1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that performs recording on a recording material by use of a recording head mounted on a carriage.
2. Related Background Art
The carriage structure of the conventional recording apparatus has been often such as to provide a base plate (head base plate) or an FPC having the conductively exposed portion that does not present resist to the recording head side in order to electrically couple the recording head and the recording apparatus main body, and then, to provide a pressurized connector for the carriage that mounts the recording head for coupling electrically with the conductively exposed portion of the recording head. This pressurized connector is usually pressed to be in contact with the conductively exposed portion of the recording head by use of the elastic deformation of a plated metal. Further, a pressurized connector of the kind is soldered to a base plate (carriage base plate) mounted on the carriage, and then, the base plate on the carriage is electrically coupled with the circuit board (control circuit) on the apparatus main body side through an FFC or an FPC.
FIG. 15 is a vertically sectional view that shows schematically the example of the carriage structure of the conventional recording apparatus. In FIG. 15, a reference numeral 500 designates a recording head and 510, a carriage. For the recording head 500 on the carriage side, a conductively exposed portion 500A is provided. For the carriage 510, the pocket portion 510A for mounting the recording head is formed, and the recording head 500 is inserted into the recording head pocket portion and positioned by use of a lever (not shown) on a designated position of the carriage 510. Also, for the carriage 510, the hole (opening portion) 510B for use of the pressurized connector is formed. For the pressurized connector 520, there is provided the pressurized pin 520A that serves as the metal elastic member for securing the electrical contact with the recording head 500.
With the structure shown in FIG. 15, the pressurized connector 520 is fixed to the carriage base plate 530. The carriage base plate 530 is tightly fixed to the outer wall face of the carriage 510, that is, the wall face on the side opposite to the side of the carriage 510 that faces the recording head 500, by use of a screw 550. In accordance with the example shown in FIG. 15, the carriage base plate 530 is tightly fixed by the utilization of the screw fixing portion 510C on the wall face on the side opposite to the side that faces the recording head 500. In this respect, the pressurized pin 520A of the pressurized connector 520 is soldered to the face on the opposite side of the carriage base plate 530 to be electrically connected with the base plate on the apparatus main body side through the carriage base plate and the FFC 540. In this way, the carriage base plate 530 of the conventional carriage structure is fixed to the carriage 510 by means of the screw 550 from the opposite side of the recording head 500 with respect to the wall face as shown in FIG. 15.
However, with the conventional carriage structure of the recording apparatus as shown in FIG. 15, there are technical problems yet to be solved as given below.
For example, the number of the pressurized pins 520A of the pressurized connector 520 is approximately 40, and assuming that the maximum load per pin is 100 g, a load of maximum 4 kg should be exerted on the pressure connector 520 as a whole. Then, the screw 550 should receive the entire load of maximum 4 kg eventually. In this case, since the carriage 510 is formed of plastic, a self-tap screw should be used as the screw 550 to fix the connector and carriage, or there is a need for the formation of a metal tap on the carriage 510 side. In any case, in order to secure the strength of the screw fixing portion 510C of the carriage 510, it is necessary to make the gap L1 between the upper and lower screw fixing portions 510 large to a certain extent. This becomes an unfavorable factor when making the carriage 510 smaller.
Also, regarding the entire strength of the carriage 510, there is a need for the reinforcement of some other parts by the amount equivalent to the extent the strength is lowered due to the formation of the hole (opening) 510B on the carriage 510 for use of the pressurized connector 520. This also becomes an unfavorable factor when making the carriage 510 smaller and lighter.
Further, if it is intended to form the head installation pocket 510A of the carriage 510 and the carriage base plate fixing portion 510D integrally, the configuration of the carriage 510 becomes complicated as clear form the structure shown in FIG. 15. This presents disadvantage in terms of the manufacturing costs.